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House of D

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Source: Catholic News Service

Contrived but touching coming-of-age story of 12-year-old Tom (Anton Yelchin) living in 1970s' Greenwich Village in New York with his manic, pill-popping widowed mother (Tea Leoni), his friendship with a mentally challenged delivery man (Robin Williams), his first crush on a pretty schoolmate, and his unusual friendship with an unseen inmate (Erykah Badu) at the Women's House of Detention. Actor David Duchovny's directorial debut (from his own script) has a low-budget feel, but the story -- even with its shamelessly sentimental ending -- is compelling. The messages about the importance of being honest and finding your roots are admirable, if a bit platitudinous, and the performances are excellent, especially from young Yelchin, but also Duchovny as the adult Tom and Frank Langella as the clerical school principal. Tobacco and drug use, some profanity and crude language and expressions, sexual content and innuendo, suicide attempt, and a problematic euthanasia plot twist. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is O -- morally offensive. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 -- parents are strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

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Philip Neri: Philip Neri was a sign of contradiction, combining popularity with piety against the background of a corrupt Rome and a disinterested clergy, the whole post-Renaissance malaise.
<p>At an early age, he abandoned the chance to become a businessman, moved to Rome from Florence and devoted his life and individuality to God. After three years of philosophy and theology studies, he gave up any thought of ordination. The next 13 years were spent in a vocation unusual at the time—that of a layperson actively engaged in prayer and the apostolate. </p><p>As the Council of Trent (1545-63) was reforming the Church on a doctrinal level, Philip’s appealing personality was winning him friends from all levels of society, from beggars to cardinals. He rapidly gathered around himself a group of laypersons won over by his audacious spirituality. Initially they met as an informal prayer and discussion group, and also served poor people in Rome. </p><p>At the urging of his confessor, he was ordained a priest and soon became an outstanding confessor, gifted with the knack of piercing the pretenses and illusions of others, though always in a charitable manner and often with a joke. He arranged talks, discussions and prayers for his penitents in a room above the church. He sometimes led “excursions” to other churches, often with music and a picnic on the way. </p><p>Some of his followers became priests and lived together in community. This was the beginning of the Oratory, the religious institute he founded. A feature of their life was a daily afternoon service of four informal talks, with vernacular hymns and prayers. Giovanni Palestrina was one of Philip’s followers, and composed music for the services. </p><p>The Oratory was finally approved after suffering through a period of accusations of being an assembly of heretics, where laypersons preached and sang vernacular hymns! (Cardinal Newman founded the first English-speaking house of the Oratory three centuries later.) </p><p>Philip’s advice was sought by many of the prominent figures of his day. He is one of the influential figures of the Counter-Reformation, mainly for converting to personal holiness many of the influential people within the Church itself. His characteristic virtues were humility and gaiety.</p>

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